Cubs and Hail

Rylan got his Wolf rank advancement in Cub Scouts.  We are so proud.  He really likes going to Cub Scouts and has lots of fun with the other boys.

Pinning mom

The blood sucking helicopter cheer

About a month ago, the Phoenix area got a crazy hail storm.  If you live here, you already know that.  :)  I don't think I have seen anything like it since I have lived here for the last 21 years.

Amelia was hiding inside.  It was loud and she was scared.

Lost Pictures

I need to catch up a little here.

So something weird happened to my camera.  For some strange reason, a bunch of pictures that I took suddenly disappeared off my camera, while some remained.

All my pictures from the beginning of school, Rylan's birthday, and about half the pictures from the Princess Ball vanished into thin air, while the rest were fine.  Maybe my camera is haunted.  Since my pictures were gone, I kind of lost my blogging momentum, but I will try and update a few things.

Rob & Ry started school in August.  Rob is in 6th grade and Ry is in 3rd.  Rylan actually has the same teacher that Rob had in 1st grade and we love her!  Robby is on the yearbook committee as the Organizations Editor.  The 6th grade kids are responsible for the entire design, sales, promotions and pretty much everything.  He is having a great time.

For Rylan's birthday in September, he wanted to play laser tag.  So we invited Uncle Marlo, Aunt Brenda and cousin Brent over.  Marlo and Eric took all the boys to play laser tag.  When they got back we grilled cheeeeeseburgers (Ry's favorite) and had cake and ice cream.  It was lots o' fun... but no pics. :(
 
Our Stake had a Princess Ball for all the girls and their Prince Charmings (dads, uncles, grandpas, friends).  We took a whole bunch of pictures outside and some in the house.  All the outside pictures went bye-bye, but we still have some from in the house.  They got to dance and had a lot of fun.  According to Eric, she is a pretty enthusiastic dancer and watches too much Dancing with the Stars, because she kept trying to do fancy moves like slide under his legs and he was having a hard time keeping up with her... that's my girl!

Amelia and her Prince Charming Daddy!

My little Princess

Beautiful blue eyes

The back of her dress has a glittery butterfly, she loves that!

MRI's and Graham Crackers

We got the official word from the doctor today.  Benjamin's MRI is normal.  Looks like he just takes after the rest of us and has a large cranium to accommodate all those brains.  We are going back to the doctor at the end of the month to measure his head again and to make sure he is staying on his growth curve.  He is developing perfectly normally, so I have no doubts that everything is ok.

Ben's new favorite snack is graham crackers

More goes on his lap than in his mouth

He also loves listening to Robby's music compositions

The MRI Experience

Ben had his MRI this morning. It went fine. Although he wasn't too fond of it because they had to strap him down and he was all wrapped up like a mummy so he couldn't wiggle very much. Then they wedged his head in with rolled up towels. I stayed in the room with him the whole time and helped hold him down so he couldn't move his head around. I don't know if any of you have had an MRI but it is really noisy. Lots of loud humming, buzzing and banging sounds. The noise startled him and actually held his attention for a minute or two at the very beginning. Then I think it kind of scared him. He screamed the entire time... poor baby! I just stood there in a semi-crouched position with my arms stretched into the tube trying not to cry, because it is so hard seeing my baby scared and crying and not being able to pick him up. I think it was only about 20 minutes long, but it seemed like forever. As soon as it was over, I picked him up and he was so sweaty and had lots of big tear stains but he was back to his normal smiley self after just a few seconds... checking out his surroundings and flirting with all the hospital workers. :)




We don't have the results yet. I was told that the MRI would be read by a radiologist today and then the report sent to our Pediatrician's office... so we are just waiting for a call from them. I guess Monday. I will update everyone then.

More storms and other stuff...

The river on the side of our house

We had another great storm last week.  The rain was coming down so hard for about half an hour that we couldn't even see the houses across the street.  The street looked like a river and the water was coming up and covering up our sidewalk.  The kids thought it was a blast though.

One great thing about the rainstorms here, is that they really cool things off.  There have been a few evenings (and even mornings) when it was pleasant enough to take a walk.

View of the sunset from the park on Friday night... Wow!

Friday morning we got up and decided that it would be a good day for the zoo.  It was overcast and not unbearably hot, although it was a little humid.  So we went to the zoo.  As soon as we got there, the clouds broke up and it was HOT!  We went straight for the splash pad to try and cool off a little.  I figured that it wouldn't be so bad if we were wet.  That didn't work out so much because we were still way hot.  We hardly looked at any animals, just went from one splash pad to the other and then came home.

So Ben had his six month check up about a week and a half ago.  It turns out that he has a big noggin (which is not a surprise).  The surprise part is that it is big enough for the doctor to have a little concern as to what is going on inside.  So we took him to have an ultrasound at Scottsdale Hospital last week on Tuesday.  I was a little freaked out.  The technician reviewed it with the radiologist and then told me that aside from his fluid being a little on the high side of normal, Ben basically just has a big head.  I was relieved, so I spread the news that everything was fine.

Look at that perfect little noggin :)

Trying to get the monkeys on his feet

Friday afternoon, I got a phone call from my pediatrician.  He told us that since Ben's ventricles are a little enlarged, they want us to go to Phoenix Children's Hospital for an MRI.  So much for being relieved... now I am a little freaked out again.

Random picture of Ry being... well, Ry!

Rainy Day Adventures

See the little shiny raindrops?

The rain starts... the gutters fill up... the temperature drops below 100... and all the kids in the neighborhood run outside... my kids and me included!


We got our first (little) rain of the monsoon season this evening.  At least, the first when we were all awake.  There has been a little rain in the middle of the night, but mostly we have just had clouds, humidity and wind.


I got a little happy with the camera today and took lots of pictures.  And it looks like I need someone to help me learn how to post them into my blog, because I can't figure out how to align them how I want or get them spaced right... :)

Catching raindrops with her hand

Catching rain on her tongue

Say ahh!

Trying to hide from the camera

Checking out his first monsoon

Me looking at the rain

He's too funny!

Is that my child?

Wet kid under an umbrella

View of the sunset from our house

Getting a little darker

Posing

Sailing a pink paper boat down the gutter

They named it the SS Sassypants... after guess who!

Sad that it got soggy

I'm so proud :)

Back inside, playing in his bouncer

Super cutie! (if I say so myself)

What's that noise outside the window?

Ahh, that's what it is... my little clown!

Laughing uncontrollably

Summer Fun

So the kids and I have been doing so much over the past couple of weeks. We have been to the AZ Science Center, the Phoenix Children's Museum, friends' birthday parties, Peter Piper Pizza, the movies with our cousins, swimming & sliding with friends at the Wigwam Resort and the XRKade. I have also taken Robby and Rylan to the Y with me to work out and Amelia and I got our toes glittered at my friend Audra's house.

Our matching glitter toes... yes, I am whiter than my daughter!

Without my kids, I have done Zumba, a Relief Society swim party, PTO meetings, Cub Scout committee meeting... along with just the regular day to day stuff of shopping, banking, and other fun errands. :)

I can't believe school will be back in less than 4 weeks. The summer has been flying by! We have been swimming more in the last few weeks than the last few years combined.

It also seems that I am not much of a photographer, because I don't take any pictures of the fun stuff that we do. I guess I will add that to the list of things to improve!

Benjamin is too tired for the bumbo!

Amelia is loving on her baby brother!